In years to come, when reminiscing about London 2012, we’ll look back fondly to what made the Olympics so special.
The inspirational endeavour of the world’s athletes, close-ups of grown men (boasting biceps resembling a job-lot of aubergines forced into an empty ‘Mr Freeze’ wrapper) crying like a teething baby that’s just crawled hand-first onto a safety pin, Ian Thorpe’s haphazard take on fashion distracting the BBC’s Claire Balding to such a degree her confusion led her to veer calamitously towards a head-on ‘‘alleged-drug-cheat’’ pile-up and, lest we forget, the contribution of Sunrise Bakery in Smethwick.
In a story less rooted in reality than The Moomins, Sunrise Bakery has claimed some credit towards Usain Bolt’s triumphant retention of the Olympic 100m title – the bakers supplied rum cake to the Jamaican athletes during their stay in Birmingham.
It’s fair to say that Sunrise’s bun didn’t fuel Bolt’s run.
But their moment of micro-fame was destined to happen – having been virtually barred from the biggest party Great Britain’s held in a generation (and yes, I’m ignoring the national days of regal fawning that I think were titled Queenathon 2012 and Pippa Middleton’s BumDay), at least one Brum-based opportunist was bound to sneak their way underneath the garden fence and enter the Olympic revelries through a carelessly ajar window.
Leaving aside the rum do that was Sunrise’s rum cake, there are actually plenty of positives Birmingham can take from London 2012 – despite having almost nothing to do with its success.
Exercise, unlike ‘jiggleballs’, is no longer a dirty word now a nation has avidly watched Team GB’s athletes running, jumping and grappling to glory.
There’s an expectation that when the BBC cameras finally leave Stratford, people will leave their sofas to run, jump and grapple their own way to fitness.
Be Active, the award-snaffling scheme that facilitates free gym sessions for the city’s residents, is a credit to Birmingham – let’s hope that the efforts of Team GB inspire more Brummies to join the 350,000 people already reaping the health benefits from Be Active.
It’s not about being the best – it’s about doing your best.
Without sounding like I’m picking on Claire Balding, I’m going to pick on Claire Balding again.
Her other near-gaffe, amidst an otherwise excellent stint hosting BBC’s Olympic coverage, was her commentary immediately following Rebecca Adlington’s bronze medal in the 800m freestyle swimming.
After initially appearing underwhelmed by Rebecca’s efforts, Claire later sought to clarify her comments, stating, “I really didn’t mean to imply Becky had failed in any way.”
Of course Becky hadn’t failed.
She still delivered a formidable performance during the race. And after the race, her exhausted, pained expression was plain to see. Moreover, the viewing public recognised that.
It sort-of reminds me of the old nonsense about Manchester vying with Birmingham to be Second City.
Thankfully, we hear less of this tribal bobbins nowadays, but Rebecca’s bronze (and the public reaction to this achievement being downplayed) reminded me – when it comes to selling this city, it should never need to be about being first this, second that.
The marketing of Birmingham should always be geared around its own attributes, its own energies, its own character.
Birmingham 2020. Don’t you dare laugh. DON’T YOU DARE.
It’s not unfeasible. It nearly happened before. Well, not nearly. Nearly-ish.
Birmingham submitted a bid for the 1992 games, which ended up taking place in a little-known Spanish slum called Barcelona.
We beat Amsterdam in the reckoning though, and that was without government support (thanks government!).
One day, I hope our city regains the mentality to think ‘we can do this’.
Certainly in the next few years, Birmingham will hope to have plenty in place (HS2, a reimagined Birmingham New Street, two Tesco Expresses on every single street) to be realistically considered as having the right infrastructure to host multinational events akin to the Olympics.
The only extra thing we’ll need? Civic leaders with ambition and vision. Could happen.
Football is now less popular than the Omnium, the Keirin and Greco-Roman wrestling. Villa, Blues and Baggies are no longer top of our city’s sporting affections, allowing them the space to concentrate on priorities: the avoidance of relegation; promotion; filing their financial accounts on time.
Team GB’s success can leave a legacy that’s more than a couple of extra velodromes.
Last word to a professional cynic (but his heart’s not in it) Birmingham Post’s Graeme Brown tweeted “Bored of the ‘more sport in school’ bandwagon’.
“If anything, it strikes me a ‘more economics in school’ campaign would be more prescient.”
He’s right. The UK won’t escape its economic doldrums by creating enough triathletes to fill Hertfordshire.
Let’s hope the young people of Birmingham strive in their everyday lives for an Olympian’s indefatigable mentality, not an Olympian-sized budget for new pommel horses.
* Keith Gabriel is a PR professional in Birmingham
